Hunger Strike Ends, but Youth 'Cockroaches' Will Keep Fighting

A 26-day hunger strike is over in India, but the standoff it helped ignite is not, Reuters reports. Activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his fast Friday after what he described on X as lengthy negotiations with federal ministers and concerns over potential violence, yet the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)—a mock party that turned very real—says its street protests will roll on until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan steps down. At issue: leaked medical school entrance exam papers affecting roughly 2 million students, a scandal linked to several student suicides and now the sharpest youth pushback Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced since taking office in 2014.

Supporters of the CJP called for a nationwide day of protest Friday, the Guardian reports. Authorities have shut 16 Delhi metro stations, cut mobile internet in central areas, and urged businesses around Connaught Place to close early, moves rights groups see as aimed at containing the unrest. Police have used tear gas and batons during clashes; some protesters have hurled stones and bottles, according to officials. Modi has promised special courts and tougher measures against exam leaks, a plan CJP leaders dismissed as addressing symptoms, not causes. The protests, now spreading to cities including Pune and Kolkata and drawing support from Bollywood stars, tap into broader anger over job scarcity, government accountability, the economy, and repeated testing scandals. Families, professionals, and others have joined the young people in protesting, the AP reports.